Injured Lane Tech player's family to attend game

Drew Williams remains in critical condition, hospital says

October 10, 2013|By Annie Sweeney | Tribune reporter

(Neil "Neilski" Hernandez, www.CPSfan.com)

As the family of injured Lane Tech football player Drew Williams kept vigil Thursday at a hospital 20 miles away, his teammates were preparing to play their last home game Friday without the star player whose collapse on the sidelines last week stunned those in his school community and beyond.

"Lane … will look to come together as a team for the last home game of the regular season as they play Foreman at Lane Stadium on Friday night," the team website read.

And members of the Williams family were hoping to attend — in part because younger brother Bryce, a sophomore, is on the varsity roster, said Andrea Williams, Drew's sister.

Her parents insist that they want to "be there" for Bryce this week as well, she said.

It's an effort to maintain some normality in the wake of the devastating turn of events last Friday when Williams was critically injured during a game at Gately Stadium, suffering a subdural hematoma — bleeding along the surface of the brain.

On Thursday, the family saw signs of hope. They reported that Williams' vitals showed signs of improvement when his parents entered his hospital room at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, leading his sister to hope that her brother knew when they were in the room.

"At least it is kind of good news," she said. "It is all we've got. It's literally still the waiting game."

The hospital said Williams, 17, remained in critical condition.

Andrea Williams did not know which hit, or hits, caused the head trauma, which the doctors have referred to as a concussion, she said.

Williams walked off the field and suffered what appeared to be a seizure on the sidelines. Horrified parents looked on as medical personal worked to keep him breathing before he was taken by paramedics. Both of his parents were at the game.

Williams was a standout senior who played both offense and defense at Lane Tech and was known for his drive and energy on the field, his sister said.

"Drew could play," she said. "He played everything."

But it is also who the teen is off the field, his sister said, that has led to the weeklong outpouring of support, including the 247 text messages that came into his phone in the days after the injury.

He volunteers with special-needs students and is a talented writer, his sister said. He is also quick with a joke and popular, yet humble and accepting of everybody, she added.

And although peers might call Williams their best friend, that person is really his mom, Andrea Williams said.

"He is really a sweet kid," she said. "He always made my mom a priority."